The Standing Room

Professional Wrestling with a Full Orchestra

Stephen Colbert interviews Nathan Gunn ("Do you perform with clothes on?")

5/8 UPDATE: Guess who was on TV again tonight.

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[Yawn]

It seems that just before sunrise on the West Coast, Nathan Gunn was on TV again on the East Coast, this time singing something (Sting? Billy Joel? Tom Waits? (Tom Waits? :-?)) on Good Morning America to promote the new album. I always know when there's a major event in Nathan's career because I'll suddenly get a obscene-looking spike of hundreds of people Googling his name, compressed in a few tight, frenzied hours.

And so I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Nathan Gunn: I swear, I never—ever!—could have imagined that my silly blog post from nearly three years ago would now be the fourth top Google hit for your name, just under the links to nathangunn.com and your bio. And I'm very sorry that you've had to issue an edict to your kids: "We have a rule in our house—my children can never Google daddy."

In addition, that post is now the top hit for "nathan gunn gay," and not a single, blessed day goes by without a few people wiggling their fingers on the keyboard wondering about that in an infinite number of permutations: "is nathan gunn gay?," "gay nathan gunn rumo(u)r," "nathan gunn wife," "billy budd gay porn star?" (I'm not making this up, you know), and, as Alex pointed out, the genteel and discreet "nathan gunn personal info."

If it's any consolation to him, Nathan is in ample company on this front (though no one gets nearly as many hits as he). Herewith, a sampling of folks whose sexuality TSR visitors are curious about:

christopher maltman gay
barihunk simon keenlyside gay
"philip ens" and gay
david gockley gay
is josh groban gay
eleanor steber gay
"montgomery clift" gay
"krystian zimerman" gay
thomas ades gay
"julius eastman" gay
george tsontakis gay
wilkes bashford gay
"mattin nobila" gay
roddy schrock gay
edwin outwater gay
lisa hirsch gay
nathan wall gay
marcus maroney gay
kosman gay (Ed. - No.)

Bonus track, for the person looking for "'gotham lullaby' lyrics": You're not serious, right? But for the record, I believe it goes:

Walalali, watalanitesanananate, walalalalalala,
walalalalalalalasinananananatinanananate.
Walala.

Ornithology

I came home from tonight's rehearsal to find:

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I guess the Magic Flute telecast started at 9pm EST?

Not included: the 300 hits at the Album o' Nathan

Uncle!

Today's Met broadcast of An American Tragedy has been in my calendar for well over a month, but when it came time to sit down and listen to a Picker opera on a beautiful Christmas Eve morning with perfect weather beckoning outside... Well, let's just say that I will have to rely on Charles's report. I got as far as "My uncle? My uncle? My uncle!" and I was out the door.

(I did make an honest effort to record it off a webcast, but my computer did not cooperate. Anyone out there with better skills and better software?)

For the first time in many years, I am not singing Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. It is a strange feeling; I hardly know what to do with myself! To all of my singing colleagues, I hope you all had a healthy holiday season: comfort ye with the knowledge that soon you will once again have 11 months off from Messiah. To everyone who's in the trenches waging war on Christmas, I wish you a happy un-holiday—I'll see you at the Chinese restaurant later tonight. And to those who are awaiting the birth of our Lord, the Sweet Baby Jesus H. Christ, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart.

Nathan Gunn Hysteria (or, L'Amour des Loins)

UPDATE: This post was likely brought to you by the Met publicity department, as evidenced by similar posts here and here.

Strap yourselves in tight: on the eve of the premiere of Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy at the Met, a new generation of Gunn Googlers has been let loose on the Web!

Those who have stuck it out with TSR for a while will undoubtedly recall the notorious Wall o' Nathan, which attracted gaggles of Gunn Googlers early on. Like those who came before, Googlers in this new wave all show up at the door with the same basket of questions: Is Nathan Gunn gay? Do you have photos? No, not those; don't you have any naked ones?

Unsurprisingly, my friends, the answers have not changed.

But, thanks to a most unexpected email this morning from a mysterious M. S-, TSR is at least able to offer you, my dear reader, this special 2-photo gift package:

I like how it buttons on the shoulder.

~~~~~~

Confidential to Sieglinde: Monty wants to know if you're getting a camera with a stronger zoom lens (the better to shoot the scene-stealing ho with, of course).

Losing My Religion

Today was my last day at my church job. Though I gave notice a few weeks back, it still hasn't quite sunk in that I'm finally releasing my grip on the udder of the cash cow that is the Catholic Church. I haven't been without a regular church gig since sometime last millennium, so this is Big News. There was a time early on when I actually learned something from doing this sort of work: it gave me a chance to practice technique, or to gain some solo experience, or to do some fun sight-reading (I friggin' love sight-reading btw; did you know I'm a total loser?). Then at some point I stopped getting anything out of it, and that's when I became a ho. I guess some people don't mind being a ho, but I'm officially tired of it. So it's time to move on.

This coincides with the start of a couple big projects that have come my way, so even though my Sundays are suddenly free, I actually have less time than before. I'm going to retire from the blogosphere temporarily to tend to those matters. I expect to be back on June 1, just in time for the SF Opera summer season! Till then, I hope you'll focus your bloggy eyes on the writings of my many wise and wonderful Internet Friends and the TSR Archives. I do plan to keep updating the del.icio.us feed and the In Rotation list, if that's of any interest to you.

I'll leave you with a quick glimpse at some of the posts I never got around to:

Gospel music in Hebrew is completely mind-blowing—did you know the first Black Jewish congregation in the US was formed in Lawrence, Kansas, in the late 1800s? ... It is not acceptable to pay $45 dollars to watch DJ Spooky hit play on his Quicktime player on a laptop, remixing something that was much stronger in its original form ... When will I find time to watch all the Eurovision videos?!? ... So Percussion rocked the house playing John Luther Adams and Evan Ziporyn at Other Minds; I totally heart percussionists ... Evelyn Glennie's coming back to town! A must-hear ... Kurt Elling gives good show, compelling and uncontrived ... Ethel certainly can play, but please, please! tone down the showmanship; way too much face-squunching and stomping for my tastes ... Watch Robbie Williams do a big-band show at Royal Albert Hall if you want to see a real showman at work ... It's been years since I last heard Todd Rundgren's A Cappella, a welcome surprise for Ethel's pre-show music ... The more I hear by Phil Kline, the more into him I get ... Did I mention Nathan Gunn's singing Guglielmo in Cosi? How will they get him to disrobe in this production, I wonder ... And finally, is this not the most teutonic headshot you've ever seen? Now is the time on Sprockets when we design opera costumes.

I'll be back ... ttyl

Miscellaneous Links

If April is a crueler month than March, I might as well go hide under the bed right now. This has been a particularly challenging time in a number of ways. Meatier, commentary-filled posts will resume at some point, but for now here are some undistilled, unconnected thoughts I'm tossing as a bone.

- Shout outs for all the recent linkage! Pliable in England writes about music and art at On an Overgrown Path. Georgia Meschini talks about opera in Italian at no guru, no method, no teacher. Richard Chambers is The Subversive Eclecticist who is a set designer and discusses theater, music, and his gear—I totally relate to guys who love their gear! And Gregory at Counter/Point 2.0 is a mezzo brimming with fabulous faggotry, featuring a photo gallery of husbands (not safe for work!) past and future. If you're visiting from Counter/Point, the only furballs at TSR so far are Simon Keenlyside and the cats, but perhaps you'd be interested in the Wall o' Nathan anyway. (Gregory, you might be amused by this post from little. yellow. different. Non-gay people, I take no responsibility for any mental images this post triggers.) Btw, Nathan Gunn's finally got his site up and running. Apologies to The Laurel Letters for more gratuitous toplessness by young men, but I thought this photo (from the Backstage page of nathangunn.com) was very charming.

- Speaking of which, The Laurel Letters wasn't so keen on DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation when it played in Boston, which makes me sad. I suppose I'll go check it out anyway, but I am starting to wonder if That Subliminal Kid has gotten a bit too Arty. But I'm looking forward to Amy X Neuburg performing at The Lab, where Edmund Welles, the bass clarinet quartet that Alex Ross singled out earlier this month, will be also be performing. (I hope they do Wild Boys!) And I just found out that Miss Coco Peru is in town at the New Conservatory Theatre. I still think back fondly to those solo tours-de-force she did at the Westbeth, all those years ago...

- A special mention for New Yorkers: if I still lived in NY, there's no way I would miss Toby Blackwell at The Duplex in April doing his one-man cabaret BITTER-ER: Hobbits, Divas and Slaves (with special guest appearance by Whitney Houston). Please go see him. He makes me laugh so hard that I can hardly breathe, and has been doing so ever since the days of wine and fake IDs.

- And speaking of NY, how random is this? My mother called me up earlier this week to say that she and my dad and some of their friends decided on a whim to go to Tosca at the Met last Monday. I believe this is the first opera that any of them have ever seen live. They've never exhibited any interest before! So, so weird. Anyway, they got themselves some $26 family circle seats, printed out the synopsis from the website (wtf, my mom figured out how to use the Met website, and thought to look up a synopsis???), headed off to the theater... And LOVED it! "I thought it would be hard to understand," she said, but the Met Titles made it easy. "I really liked the song the lady sang in the second act," she said; "you didn't even need to know what the words meant to know that it was important." Well, I'll be damned. Maria Guleghina's just introduced my parents to Vissi d'arte.

Happy Good Friday, everyone! And to all my fellow singing friends, hope you're having a healthy Holy Week.

I'll have an Amoeba Run with a Tower chaser

Two successful record shopping experiences this Sunday, paired with two equally pleasurable parking events! I don't look for much more out of life than that.

After my morning church job (1), I headed down to Amoeba (2) with a fairly specific shopping list - more Ligeti, a copy of Eugene Onegin, some Lawrence Tibbett collections - and committed myself to staying within the confines of the classical/new music section in the back corner.

The success ratio was pretty good Sunday; I came out with used copies of the Hvorostovsky's Onegin, Ligeti's Aventures/SQ #2, two Tibbett compilations, and a new Matt Haimovitz compilation.

What a charming piece that Aventures is -- I'd love to find some occasion to work on that one day. SQ #2 is pretty dandy too. The Haimovitz I picked up just because I haven't heard him yet, believe it or not. And they included a Toby Twining piece on the compilation, so that was an incentive.

As for the Tibbetts, if you ever find yourself in the unlikely position of having to choose between the RCA Victor Vocal Series album and the Nimbus Prima Voce "Tibbett in Opera", go with the RCA. There's about 85% overlap -- not just repertoire, actually the same recordings -- and the RCA remastering (produced by John Pfeiffer) is just better.  (UPDATE: Visit the Iron Tongue for more details.) And the things I really wanted to hear on the Nimbus that weren't on the RCA (the Otello Credo and Abendstern from Tannhaeuser) are from the late '30s anyway, right at the end of his prime time.

And then on my way to the register I walked past the New Arrivals bin in the used electronica section and somehow found myself holding two DJ Spooky albums and a live recording by Wobbly, with the cutest cover in recent memory.

But the one thing I've been trying to find for a couple weeks, Nathan Gunn's recording of John Adams's The Wound-Dresser, still was nowhere to be seen. So grudgingly I headed over to the funny-smelling Tower Records on Market Street near the Castro, where I fully expected to be circling for 20 minutes looking for a parking space. (You know how much the gays like to have their Sunday brunch.) But there too I found a spot on the first go-around, not a block away! A quick in-and-out it was; grabbed the CD, paid an extortionate $8.50 (it's a Naxos record, for chrissakes), and went on my way.

I should be satisfied with these recent acquisitions, but today I just heard about a new Soft Pink Truth album, Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Soft Pink Truth? (There's a performance next Monday, too. Watch this video for a sense of what The Soft Pink Truth's all about.) I sense another Amoeba run coming on.

Still to come, a recap of this past weekend's activities, including: Tosca, starring Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher! Also, World Music Concerts: Who Knew There Are So Many Blond Guys with Dreads?

~~~~~~

(1) One of the main reasons I stay at that hateful place is because they have a parking lot. Never any worries about having to leave time to park. I can't stress enough what a luxury this is in SF.

(2) The validated lot was blocked off again for another damned Special Event. But within seconds I found a spot directly across the street from the Amoeba entrance. I guess God heard my prayer. Maybe my high school football team will win its next game too.

Search: "nathan gunn photos naked"

The visitor stats don't lie: all of the folks who came by TSR in the early days looking for Bjork's Oceania video are apparently now trolling around for photos of baritone Nathan Gunn. Perhaps the sudden interest has been sparked by Tommasini's article in the NY Times today. But given the number of hits I've gotten on the Billy Budd pages here, here and here in the past week, you'd think the discovery of a decent-looking opera singer is equivalent to the second coming of Callas.

Here are some answers for all you Gunn Googlers. He's 33. Yes, he's added Billy Budd to his repertoire, and most recently performed it at San Francisco Opera. He does seem to be asked to take his shirt off a lot. He was on the cover of Opera News in September 2004. Since he has a lovely wife Julie (who is also his recital pianist) and 5 children, one can safely assume he is not gay. Yes, I really think he's not gay. There are no photos of "Nathan Gunn naked" that I'm aware of.

To be honest, I actually agree with Parterre Box's assessment (scroll down) of the Gunn ogling phenomenon. I just listened to his Wound-Dresser recording today (what a pain to find, but that's a post for another day) and he is singing quite well. There's a depth and fullness to his tone that I find appealing, and his production sounds natural and fluid. I'm looking forward to listening again tomorrow, which is a good sign.

But I also understand that some folks are just encountering Nathan for the first time. So, purely as a public service, I have scoured the web on your behalf to bring you the Wall o' Nathan. (You can click through to the full-size photos in the Album o' Nathan.) I hope you guys appreciate the sacrifices I make for the common good...

Would Monsieur care for some whine with his meal?

For my lunch break today, I've chosen to indulge in a bit of exclamation-pointed whining: 

I just gave my mechanic $625 to replace my brakes this morning!

The application for a workshop I'm interested in is due tomorrow and I've barely begun to write it! I have to revise my resume for the first time in seven years too!  Plus I have a rehearsal tonight, and have no idea how this will all get done!

I have another red-eye, this time to Milwaukee, on Thursday!  Correlatively, I have to go to Milwaukee!

Even though my C drive has been resurrected (thanks, Messrs. R-!), my 200gb D drive with all my music is still dead!

I have to move my car TWICE today (at 1:30 and 4:30) because all the good "park till 4PM" spots were taken when I got to work -- because I was off spending $625 getting my brakes replaced!

I missed Puffy Amiyumi at the Fillmore on Monday because of another rehearsal!  I also missed Nathan Gunn's master class at the Conservatory on Monday because of the same damn rehearsal!  (I've heard he didn't take his shirt off at the master class, though, so maybe I didn't miss anything important.)

I am so far behind in my posting that I am suffering from brain constipation!  The blockage includes:

- the very fine performance in Cosi by Alexandra Deshorties (not to be confused with Short / Hot Olympian Alexandre Despatie)

- the Emmanuel Church service that John Harbison conducted (I'll just say that I am so fucking jealous that there are people out there who get to sing Schuetz's Kleine Geistliche Konzerte at their church job, and with period instruments and a proper continuo, no less)

- the weird Eric Whitacre phenomenon I'm trying to figure out

- the advance of Thomas Quasthoff singing Kreuzstab and Ich habe genug, which arrived unbidden yesterday -- so exciting! November 9 release, according to Amazon.  UPDATE: Just listened to it.  Alas, not as exciting as I had hoped. Lorraine has spoiled us rotten.

- Boosey & Hawkes's new and super-cool American Arias collections (you know, if you're into sheet music)

... and of course the long-awaited Billy Budd. I went last night and ironically left my binoculars at home. So, well, I'm embarrassed to say this, but.... mmm, if you ever want to rent opera glasses, they're $4, you leave your driver's license as a deposit, they're at the coat check, the lady's really nice (she asked where my seat was and i sort of mumbled 'standing room' and she didn't seem to pass judgment), the line's not too bad after the show, and they're pretty decent quality.  Show was good, one performance left on Sunday, if you're interested.

Well, that was cathartic.  Thanks.